Machine to Machine (M2M) devices may use a lower complexity narrowband technology to access a frame structure within an existing wideband deployment. In such a deployment, a base station may allocate a narrow part of the spectrum specifically for M2M use.
By embedding a narrowband structure inside a wideband structure, a base station may manage low bandwidth M2M along with regular network use, while the M2M devices may be made less complex and with lower power consumption and lower cost than full-band devices.
M2M devices that process narrow band radio frequency (RF) channels may be referred to as Narrow-Band M2M (NB-M2M) Devices. M2M devices may belong to one of the following three classes based on their capability of band processing: (1) Narrow-band only M2M devices that may only process narrow band (e.g., 1.25 MHz or 1.08 MHz); (2) Wide-band only M2M devices; or (3) Capable of processing both narrow-band and wide-band, but one at a time, i.e. configurable where the wide-band capability may be limited to some specific cases. For example, 2994298-1 an M2M device capable of processing both narrow-band and wide-band may use wide-band for network entry.
In general, base station (BS) support for NB-M2M operations may include the following: (1) a BS scheduler may allocate the M2M regions to meet the quality of service (QoS) requirements for M2M traffic and also to minimize the impact on non-M2M devices; (2) a BS may provide NB-M2M region specific PHY support, (for example, NB-M2M region PHY synchronization signals, downlink/uplink (DL/UL) control signals, such as MAPs, UL ranging and feedback, and data bursts); and (3) a BS may provide the NB-M2M device specific MAC support to improve the system efficiency for NB-M2M operation, (for example, M2M device specific bandwidth management and allocation mechanisms, M2M device specific power saving procedures with long sleep/idle intervals). The BS may be a logical node in wireless communication systems that facilitates wireless communication between a subscriber station (SS)/wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) and a network.